WWE fate, not fake, for this fan

Ever since he was 4 years old, Darrin Collins has been a professional wrestling fan. He’s followed all the development of new and old characters. He knows all the moves and all the alliances. To him, its more than a hobby, it’s a lifelong passion.

Darrin, 17, is a senior at Poudre High School in Fort Collins. Because of a developmental disability, he uses a wheelchair to get around and has limited dexterity in his fingers. Darrin is a smart, engaging young man whose face lights up at the mere thought of anything from a head-lock to the coveted steel-cage match.

“People say it is fake. I know it is. But to me it’s life,” Darrin said. “That is what makes me feel good, watching wrestling.”

When it was announced that World Wrestling Entertainment’s RAW: Unleashed! will debut in northern Colorado on Saturday at the Budweiser Events Center, Darrin could hardly contain himself. For Darrin, fate soon stepped in.

An area radio station, 99.9 FM, The Planet, started holding smackdown contests for tickets. Smackdown is the art of trash-talking another wrestler, a manager or anyone else you have a grudge against. The radio station’s contest named a wrestler for contestants to smackdown. Darrin began listening intently for a chance

to call. Finally, he was able to get through and start his smackdown on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who, ironically, is Darrin’s favorite wrestler.

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As Darrin set in with a barrage of insults aimed at Stone Cold, Darrin’s mother was in the background lending him advice.

“My mom said: ‘That’s not going to

work,’ ” Darrin said. “I said ‘shut up, Mom,’ and they gave me two smackdowns, one for Stone Cold and the other for getting my mom.”

A lifetime dream came true for Darrin at that moment. “When I heard my name on the radio station, I didn’t believe it,” he said “I had to go ask my dad what my name is.”

Darrin has seen a lot of wrestling, but never anything live. He was delighted to have two free tickets to see the show. Then fate stepped in again.

Darrin spends a few afternoons each week at Respite Care, a nonprofit short-term care facility in Fort Collins. On Monday, a few Colorado Eagles players and executives visited Respite Care to throw the children a Christmas party. A representative from the Budweiser Events Center found out about Darrin’s wrestling passion and gave him four front-row tickets for Saturday’s show.

“Oh man! Oh brother,” Darrin said with excitement. “I thought I was going to be in the second row.”

Darrin should be in for a good show, said RAW general manager Eric Bischoff.

“Wrestling is probably the purest form of entertainment there is,” Bischoff said.

A crazy as it sounds, Bischoff could be right. Professional wrestling’s pageantry, lager-than-life characters, acrobatic stunts and fan interaction makes for quite a show. Professional wrestling enjoys consistently higher-than-average cable ratings and a huge market for merchandise like video games and action figures.

Darrin said he will love to his first live viewing of WWE. But is wrestling too violent to be considered family entertainment? Bischoff said no.

“What we do is suspended reality,” he said, pointing to other real acts of violence broadcast on daily news channels that are much more pervasive than wrestling.

Darrin said he agrees with Bischoff on that statement, which is saying a lot. Darrin carries a grudge against Bischoff because of the way Bischoff has treat Stone Cold Steve Austin in the past.

All fans attending Saturdays show will be a part of fan interaction that is uncommon in most sporting events, Bischoff said.

“It’s one of the things that makes wrestlers so much cooler athletes,” he said.